Well duh! That would have been helpful! Before the end of the 8 weeks he had a formed stool - the standard by which all remedies are judged - and he would have stopped then, but I urged him to complete the whole 8 weeks. This was some years ago. He's probably has had to repeat the 8 weeks treatment a couple of times over the years. One time, when we were in Europe, he had a flare up and there was NO Pepto to be had. Apparently, bismuth is considered a heavy metal and banned for sale in some countries, so we always pack a *load (haha) before we travel outside the US. That would be in the old days, of course.